![]() ![]() Jaboulet are very good here as is the Meffre family.Įastern fringes - Set against an iconic landscape with Mont Ventoux and the craggy Dentelles de Montmirail as the backdrop, some of these hillsides were first planted by the Romans and include some of the best-known names in the Rhône Valley. Plan de Dieu - Large flat expanse of pudding stones that seem to stretch as far as the eye can see, in the middle of which there is an airfield, (largely built for the Luftwaffe) surrounded by vines. Rasteau is all power and might while Cairanne is more deicate. Big full-bodied wines, grenache dominated. The new name for the wines (which doesn't exactly trip off the tongue), is Grignan-lès-Adhémar.Ĭentral hills - This includes the villages of Cairanne and Rasteau along with neighbouring Roaix. The area has seen a name change as Tricastin is also the name of a power station on the river. It's a relatively cool area, far too cold for growing mourvèdre successfully, but the whites do very well and so does the syrah grape. Tricastin/Grignan-lès-Adhémar - The Tricastin is a much neglected part of the Rhône and coming down from the northern Rhône, these are the first vines one sees. Adrien Fabre makes both outstanding examples of both Visan and Saint-Maurice. Emmanuel Bouchard is one of the top names in Valréas. Valréas and Visan are planted on the same hill but tend to look north. Best names include Perrin, now the largest land owner and Domaine Jaume whose wines have been charming members since the 1979 vintage. Vinsobres has full cru status and makes superb wine. The three 'Vs' : Valréas, Visan and Vinsobres: These are three top neighbouring villages (with a 4th, Saint-Maurice broadly similar to Vinsobres). Many of its star producers here are able to farm organically. Just north of Orange is the largely wooded and isolated Massif d'Uchaux. Northern hills: There are fresh sub-alpine breezes at work here and as a result the wines often have a distinct freshness too. For the moment the Costières produces good everyday wines of good quality but there is potential to do much more. This is an area that has much improved over the years and has become a valuable source for very fine, concentrated syrah wines in particular.Ī little further on are the Costieres de Nimes, a large area of upland plateau, south-east of Nîmes. Most of the area lies in the département of the Gard and stretches from the river westwards towards Nîmes where at some ill-defined line in the soil, the Rhône becomes the Languedoc. There is more rain here but it is also hot and grapes are therefore early ripening. Right bank: Villages include Tavel (rosé only) Lirac, Saint-Gervais and Laudun. A third is very good, a third acceptable and the last third, undrinkable. Word of caution: Châteauneuf produces as much wine as the whole of the northern Rhône put together. ![]() Few wines combine immense strength with perfect elegance quite so convincingly. Reds tend to be grenache based with syrah, mourvèdre and counoise also used. ![]() Better still are the so-called crus led by Châteauneuf-du-Pape itself.Ĭhâteauneuf-du-Pape: This large area to the north of Avignon makes the best wines of the south. More than half of the production is of Côtes-du-Rhône with the best sold as Côtes-du-Rhône Villages. Some 20 grape varieties are planted in the south though one in particular, Grenache, gives the region as a whole its identity: generosity, body, weight and a definite tendency to making big wines. Most is red, though production of both white and pink is growing. Producing over 3.5m hl (hectolitres), this is the second biggest region for production of appellation contrôlée wine in France after Bordeaux. ![]()
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